ONLINE RADIO

STATION

Charity Walk in Brittany France on behalf of Hospice Africa France

As many of you already know, Jim Bennett, the president of Hospice Africa France and his friend George Daly are walking from the Centre for Palliative Care in St Malo to the centre in Rennes to raise money for the work in Africa. Covid has made the needs even greater, and the income has been greatly reduced as the charity shop, which is the main source of income, has been closed for three long periods of time during the Covid crisis.

The walk which is 120km will take place from 17-22 May and the two men, with combined ages of 146, have been training hard. They are hoping to raise around 5000€. In addition to the walk, they will also be rehearsing extracts from Samuel Becket’s “Waiting for Godot” and are costumed appropriately!

How can you sponsor them?

1.If you live in or near Jugon you can collect a sponsor form from the Canotier bar or the Charity Shop, when it reopens, and return it to the shop.

2.If you are a British tax payer with a British bank account you can sponsor by going to https://virginmoneygiving.com/jimbennett7. The advantage of this method is that the charity can receive the tax benefit.

3. If you wish/need to pay in euros, then you can do so by going to Google and entering Hospice Africa /Hello Asso, scroll down until you arrive at Jim and George’s walk and there is a button for a donation. That allows you to reclaim the tax when you complete your tax return.

4. You can go to the  hospice-africa.org website, scroll down and click on the link for France and then you can donate using paypal. If you do this it would be helpful to let us know by email that the donation is to support the walk.

Many thanks for your continued support of this vital work.

UPDATE

Saturday 22nd May. The last day of the walk.

An early start. At my instigation I picked George up at 7.30 am for the drive to Les Stroud’s house for our lift to last nights finish place, Betton. Les was in his bathroom as I had not told him of our earlier start. George and I rehearsed Godot as Les finished his ablutions and made us coffee.

The drive started well but 10 minutes from Betton the road was totally blocked by an accident so we had to do a U turn and find another route through Rennes suburbs. We arrived just after 9 and were relieved to see a group of yellow t-shirts waiting for us.

Didier Jamet who had been our link with St Malo was there with his wife and another bénévole from the palliative acre service. Marie Noelle and Christine, our companions on day one joined us gain for the last morning.

The tow path was active with joggers, cyclists and walkers. Also, at the first lock we chatted to the crew of a yacht who were doing the length of the canal on there voyage from Granville in Normandy to Brest. Although they motored faster than we walked with the time it took them to get through a lock they kept us company the whole walk. As we got closer to Rennes the noise of traffic from the adjacent roads got noisier but the canal is protected by a cordon of fields and woods so if you blocked out that sound you could have still been in the countryside. I heard a cuckoo and learnt a French round about a cuckoo and owl competing in the forest with their calls. There was much chat on the walk as the we formed and reformed pairs. Some caught up with old friends and others made new ones. Our rendezvous was for 11 am at the Rennes palliative care unit. I had misjudged the distance. At about 11h30, Marie Noelle rang Laetitia Tizon, administer of the USP Rennes to say where we were. A little later we met her, her two children, her mother and another elder man who joined us on our walk from the tow path to La Tauvrais palliative care unit.

At La Tauvrais we were met by Louise and Les and our friend Chantal. Also, there were Prof Morel the head of palliative care for Rennes University Hospital and members of his team. We had the usual group photos and then went into reception. There we saw the display Louise had set up. Prof Morel greeted us formally and thanked us for our African initiative and offered his support. I answered briefly and then Louise outlined our 6 days of walking and presented us with two very nice tokens of our walk.

On behalf of George and I, I would like to thank Louise for the organisation of the walk and all those who manned the stand and dropped us off at the various starting places and collected us at the end of a day. On behalf of Hospice Africa France I would like to thank all who donated so generously to the cause. We pledge to use the money wisely.

Hospice Africa France is the French arm of the Hospice Africa family, a small charity that promotes palliative care in francophone sub-Saharan Africa.

Jim Bennett, President of the charity, and his friend, George Daly, have decided to undertake a walk from the St Malo palliative care unit to the one in Rennes to raise awareness and funds. The walk, which they will complete in the week 17-22 May, is 120km and their combined age is 146 years. And just for fun they will be walking as the two main characters in 'Waiting for Godot'. You can't keep a couple of old thespians down. Why? It seemed like a good idea.

For more information about the charity, you can visit their website www.hospice-africa.org.

EN FRANCAIS

Comme beaucoup d'entre vous le savent déjà, Jim Bennett, le président d'Hospice Africa France et son ami George Daly vont marcher du centre de soins palliatifs de Saint-Malo au centre de Rennes afin de récolter des fonds pour le travail en Afrique. La Covid a rendu les besoins encore plus grands, et les revenus ont été fortement réduits car la boutique de charité, qui est la principale source de revenus, a été fermée pendant trois longues périodes durant la crise de la Covid.

La marche de 120 km se déroulera du 17 au 22 mai et les deux hommes, qui totalisent à eux deux 146 ans , se sont entraînés dur. Ils espèrent récolter environ 5 000 €. En plus de la marche, ils répéteront également des extraits de "En attendant Godot" de Samuel Becket et seront costumés en conséquence !

Comment pouvez-vous les parrainer ?

1. Si vous habitez à Jugon ou dans les environs, vous pouvez retirer un formulaire de parrainage au bar du Canotier ou au Charity Shop, dès sa réouverture, et le retourner au magasin.

2. Si vous êtes un contribuable britannique avec un compte bancaire britannique, vous pouvez parrainer en vous rendant sur  https://virginmoneygiving.com/jimbennett7. L'avantage de cette méthode est que l'organisation caritative peut bénéficier de l'avantage fiscal.

3. Si vous souhaitez/devez payer en euros, vous pouvez le faire en allant sur Google et en entrant Hospice Africa /Hello Asso, faites défiler la page jusqu'à ce que vous arriviez à la marche de Jim et George et il y a un bouton pour faire un don. Cela vous permet de récupérer la taxe lorsque vous remplissez votre déclaration d'impôt.

4. Vous pouvez vous rendre sur le site  www.hospice-africa.org, faire défiler la page et cliquer sur le lien pour la France, puis vous pouvez faire un don en utilisant Paypal. Si vous le faites, il serait utile de nous indiquer par e-mail que le don est destiné à soutenir la marche.

Merci beaucoup pour votre soutien constant à ce travail vital.